Generally, vehicle door includes a sash door having a door frame and a door body located on the lower side of the door frame, both formed separately. The door frame forms an opening that is selectively opened or closed by a window glass and the door frame and the door body. The sash door is formed, for example, by making the door frame of sash and welding the door frame with the door panel constituting the door body. In the case of the sash door, the door frame can be formed thinner than the case of the press door in which the door frame and the door body are formed integrally. Thus, in the sash door, the opening of the door frame can be made wider than in the press door.
Japanese Published Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-67694 discloses a door frame of a sash door including a pillar extending obliquely upward from the door body and a main frame extending substantially horizontally from an upper end of the pillar.
Each of the pillar and the main frame includes a hollow portion, a design portion, and a flange portion. The hollow portion is disposed on the interior side of the vehicle with respect to the window glass. The design portion is disposed on the exterior side of the vehicle with respect to the window glass. The flange portion opposes the edge of the window glass and extends from the design portion to the hollow portion. In the pillar, the hollow portion, the design portion, and flange portion form a glass slide having a channel-like cross sectional configuration that opens toward the window glass with the flange portion located at the bottom of the slide, thereby guiding the window glass in the slide. In the main frame, the hollow portion, the design portion, and the flange portion form a glass fit having a channel-like cross sectional configuration that opens toward the window glass with the flange portion located at the bottom of the fit, thereby holding the window glass.
The glass slide of the pillar is formed deeper than the glass fit of the main frame so as to guide sliding of the window glass. Thus, the width of the design portion of the pillar is greater than that of the design portion of the main frame. When the pillar is joined with the main frame, the design portion of the pillar protrudes further than the design portion of the main frame on the side of the window glass, causing a difference in level of the joined portion of the design portions. Accordingly, conventionally, as illustrated in FIG. 6, an end of the pillar 104 has been processed to have a protrusion 104a protruding from the end of the pillar 104 to the main frame 105 so that the design portion of the pillar 104 and the design portion of the main frame 105 are joined without the difference in level.
By folding a metal plate having the design portion, folds are formed at the edge of the design portion of each of the pillar 104 and the main frame 105 in the width direction of the design portion. However, in the joined structure of FIG. 6, the folds (shaded portions in FIG. 6) of the design portions are not continued smoothly at the joined portion (abut portion) of the pillar 104 and the main frame 105. Thus, the joined portion of the pillar 104 and the main frame 105 is poor-looking. It is possible to perform welding to the joined portion to make the folds of the design portions continue smoothly, however, such welding is cumbersome. In addition, in order to form the protrusion 104a at the end of the pillar 104, an additional step such as pressing is required, which increases the number of steps for the process.